Spain, September 7- 29, 2002

Stage 4 - September 10: Aguilas - Roquetas De Mar, 149.5 km

Cipollini spreads his wings again

After Mario Cipollini's first ever Vuelta stage win yesterday, he was asked
why he didn't give a victory salute as he crossed the line. He replied that
he was worried that someone would pass him, adding "But tomorrow if I win I
promise I will raise them very high indeed."

He did just that today, with an impressive sprint win into Roquetas De Mar,
a resort town just south of Almeria on the southern Spanish coastline. This
time he had more than a bike length to spare over second placed Alessandro Petacchi
(Fassa Bortolo), with Austrian Gerrit Glomser (Saeco) just edging out Erik Zabel
for third. Cipollini's victory salute lasted long after he crossed the line,
and he was obviously delighted with his performance. Again it was the superb
work of his Acqua e Sapone teammates who got him to exactly the right place
at the front of the pack with 150m to go, allowing Cipollini to power his way
to the finish leaving the other sprinters in his wake.

The question is now 'How long will Cipollini last in the Vuelta?' It's almost
certain that he won't finish the race due to his desire to remain fresh in order
to focus on the World Championships. He has already proved his point in the
Vuelta, and could easily pick up another couple of stage wins before he exits
the race. He's not a rider who will be particularly concerned about making it
all the way to Madrid.

How it unfolded

The fourth stage from Águilas to Roquetas de Mar took the riders down the fairly
desolate south eastern Spanish coastline via Almeria. The temperatures were
again in the low 30's with bright sunshine accompanying the riders the whole
day. As expected, the Jazztel-Costa de Almeria team was keen to go on the attack,
with the powerful Dario Gadeo escaping after only three kilometres to ride for
the next three hours solo.

Gadeo's lead reached 11 minutes in the first third of the stage, as the relaxed
peloton was pretty confident in its ability to chase him down. Gradually the
speed began to pick up, with one rider from Telekom (Jan Schaffrath), Acqua
e Sapone (Ruben Lobato) and Fassa Bortolo (Gorazd Stangelj) manning the front
of the peloton.

By the team he reached Almeria with 26 km to go, Gadeo's lead had shrunk to
2'15, and despite his best efforts it was all over 13 km later as the field
prepared for a mass sprint. 133 kilometres of solo effort would at least please
his sponsors.

A fall on a roundabout with 10 km to go took out Andreas Klöden (Telekom),
Benjamin Noval and Martin Garrido (Relax) and sprinter Ivan Quaranta (Index-Alexia),
who has had a bad Vuelta so far on top of a bad year. Further towards the end,
his teammate Paolo Savoldelli was involved in a fall. Things just aren't going
right for the Index-Alexia boys.

Again it was Acqua e Sapone doing the tempo making at the front inside the
last 5 kilometres, with Miguel Martin Perdiguero lifting the pace to 60 km/h
for Mario Scirea, Guido Trenti and Santos Gonzalez to hold. Other teams tried
but failed to get past the zebra train, and again it was Giovanni Lombardi in
position with 400m to go for his trademark lead out. Behind him were Cipollini,
Zabel, Petacchi and Freire, with Cipo keeping a watchful eye out on the others
as he prepared to jump.

Zabel and Petacchi had moved up to Cipollini's shoulder by the time he put
in his final kick for the line with 150m to go, but when Mario hit top speed
there was absolutely nothing the others could do. His winning margin was over
a bike length to Petacchi, allowing him a proper two armed salute which he followed
with several one armed punches in the air. He was clearly happy and he let everyone
know it.

Another rider who enjoyed today's stage was race leader Joseba Beloki (ONCE),
whose teammates had to do less work on the front than in previous days, and
he comfortably finished the stage in the gold jersey. His next real test comes
in the next two stages, which are both mountain top finishes. Tomorrow's stage
5 from El Ejido o Almeria to Sierra Nevada ends at 2,510m after a monstrous
37 kilometre climb starting at 700m. Anyone who has a chance in this year's
Vuelta can not afford to lose time tomorrow, and we will see the likes of Oscar
Sevilla, Gilberto Simoni, Francesco Casagrande, and Roberto Heras try to attack
Joseba Beloki and his ONCE pals.